


Earthquakes, Turtles, and Magic

by purbish



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, Magic AU, Magician Donnie and Apprentice April, Oneshot, could be read as Apritello I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 14:46:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12459981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purbish/pseuds/purbish
Summary: “When disaster threatens, a magician and his apprentice go on a road trip”Donnie and April are magicians in a world where magic is outlawed. They have made their home under New York City, safe from prying eyes. But are they really safe? A magical earthquake as just shaken their home, destroying everything. The government has found them. Will they live? Or will they be captured?





	Earthquakes, Turtles, and Magic

_“When disaster threatens, a magician and his apprentice go on a road trip”_

* * *

Donnie heaved the boulder off him, clawing his way through the mounds of rubble. The fractured pieces of cement and metal tore the soft skin of his fingers. But his overall feeling of urgency drove him on. April! Where was she? He thought she had murmured something an hour ago about finding some algae to test a spell on, but he wasn’t sure. He had been so engrossed on working on his latest potion he hadn’t been fully listening to what she had said. _Stupid!_ He mentally scolded himself. If he didn’t find her soon…he didn’t want to think about what would happen to her then.

Even if she was somehow okay, a large part of their underground lair had caved in. Call it a freak of nature, but the earthquake that had destroyed the Lair had been too strong to be anything of Mother Nature’s doing.  Only one person could have performed such a feat......

Finally Donnie reached the final layer of rubble and glanced around at what had once been his home. The walls were inflicted with major cracks, all of which looked like they were one touch away from causing the whole lair to fully collapse and crush him.

“April” He yelled out in a hoarse voice. “April are you okay?” No sound reached his ears other than the pops and squeals of rocks grinding past each other as the sewer tunnels crumbled. He crumpled to the floor in despair as he realized he had no idea where his apprentice was, or even if she was still alive. Clutching his chest, he moaned as a wave of pain rolled over him, probably from nearly getting crushed by the ceiling. But wait--pain wasn’t all he felt. There was another sensation buried beneath the pain, one he couldn’t quite pinpoint. It felt weird.

Wait, that was it! Everything felt weird, alien. It wasn’t that the earthquake had changed the color of the walls or the texture of the floor; he would have sensed that in the surge of magic that accompanied it. No, he must simply be sensing everything differently. _But why?_

“M-Master! Help!” April’s voice, though muffled, finally reached his ears, making him jump up and forget all he had been contemplating.

“April!” Donnie rushed over to where he had heard his apprentice’s voice emanating from, so intent on getting her out he didn’t even notice his own hands as they moved to dig at the thin barrier separating them. Finally he broke through, watching worriedly as a shaft of light fell onto her face and made her sneeze. “April, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah. I managed to cast a spell before--” She broke off, staring at him. “M-Master?! What happened?”

“Huh? I don’t know what you…” He raised his hand to scratch his head, pausing in the middle of the action as he caught a glimpse of it. _Green?_ Why was his hand _green_? And three fingered, too. Was it a byproduct of his experimental potion being interrupted midway? His train of thought was broken up yet again as a squeal of shifting rock echoed around the Lair.

“I don’t know what happened, but there’s no time to make a hypothesis. We’ve got to get out of here, and fast!” He reached through the hole and pulled her out. “Go grab your emergency bag, but be careful!” As they both raced to their rooms, he recalled the advice his brother Mikey had given him.

When he had seen his family last, right before they had parted to go their own ways, Mikey had given them each a bag filled with the necessary items to survive in the forests for a month. The bags were magical, naturally, and thus could hold several sleeping bags while still remaining small enough to go unnoticed. After handing them each two bags--one for them and one for their future apprentice--Mikey had also given them a warning.

_“Now remember!”_ he had said, his normally smiling face a rather severe expression. “ _There have been rumors going around that the government has hired a pretty powerful magician to kill the rest of us off. Be careful, and stay safe. Use these only when you need to.”_

Was the wizard who had caused this the one Mikey had been talking about? If so, then going right aboveground after gathering their things would be walking straight into a trap. They’d have to risk walking through the tunnels, using as little magic as possible in order to stay undetected.

Spotting his sack amidst the mess that used to be his lab, he quickly threw it on one shoulder (for some reason the straps wouldn’t cross his back anymore), and raced back to the main room. He found April waiting there, and quickly explained his reasoning to her.

Casting a quick little spell, he made a small hole in the wall and crawled through. As he glanced around, he let out a sigh of relief. It was just as he thought. The ‘earthquake’ had only affected the Lair and it’s main exits. Whoever made it probably wasn’t expecting them to crawl out through a side tunnel. Hopefully, they would be far away by the time that person came to check.

After walking for a while, Donnie and April finally reached the far side of the city and climbed out of the sewers. It had taken them longer that he had expected; he had to stop and rest every few minutes or so. (Probably because he had almost been crushed by a giant chunk of ceiling. Even one of the greatest wizards wouldn’t have been able to escape unscathed after being squashed.)

Okay, now that they were aboveground and hopefully away from the wizard (make a quick scan of the area--old homeless man, check; age-undetermined evil wizard, nope), it was time for him to examine his body.

So it wasn’t just his hands; his feet were likewise green and had three digits. They also seemed to melt seamlessly into his legs, which were--hello--sans pants? Quickly he glanced upwards. Okay, that was good. At least he was still covered. But wait, was that bone? Yes, but apparently still flexible. Donnie reached behind himself, using his hands to explore where his eyes could not. That...felt vaguely like a turtle shell. Actually, there was no mistaking the hexagonal pattern. He most definitely had a turtle shell. So...that meant he was a human-turtle hybrid? Huh. It looked like April was going to have to do the shopping from now on.

A magically enhanced roar of rage and frustration reverberated across the city. “Well,” Donnie said, spinning around to face his apprentice. “It sounds like our attacker’s noticed we’ve flown the coop, so it’s time to move on!” And with that, they set off; travelers once more.


End file.
